Vikings basketball win three straight to start the season

VIKING BASKETBALL

The Bigfork Vikings started their basketball season last week with a three-game winning streak.

The Vikings beat Hamilton 64-57 and Anaconda 73-59 at the tip-off tournament in Missoula over the weekend. Last Tuesday they downed Whitefish in their season opener 67-28.

“We’ve put together a string of three good games,” head coach Sam Tudor said. “The tip-off showed us how good we can be and the level of good competition exposed us at times; we are viewing it as a learning experience.”

The Vikings faced off with Class A Hamilton in their final matchup at the tip-off tournament. The Vikings had a tough first half and went into halftime down 29-22.

“Hamilton is a talented, scrappy team,” Tudor said. “We went into half and just simplified what we were doing. I’ve thrown a lot of new stuff at these boys and it led to some confusion. When we brought everything back to basics, we started clicking.”

The Vikings scored 25 points in the fourth quarter to come back and win. Jonathan Landon racked up 27 points against Hamilton and Adam Jordt added 20.

Jordt and Landon stepped up to the net with scoring as Hamilton keyed in on Joseph Potkonjak, who set a school record on Friday with seven three-pointers against Anaconda.

Potkonjak led the Vikes against Anaconda with 24 points, followed by Jordt with 16.  

“With the exception of Adam and Jonathan, this team really hasn’t played together a bunch,” Tudor said. “Jonathan and Adam have been playing together for so long, they just have such good chemistry on a consistent basis. Our other players are stepping up and filling in their roles. Our freshman point guard, Anders Epperly, brings ball-handling skills to the table, which frees Adam up. George Gibson is leading us in rebounds. He and Garret Beville have been a solid one-two punch at the low post. The big surprise is senior Levi Spanogle. He comes off the bench and brings us energy, not to mention is a great mid-range shooter.”

In the Vikings’ opening outing in Whitefish, Bigfork raced out to a 42-point halftime lead.

Bigfork led 29-5 after one quarter and stretched its lead to 54-12 at the half.

Jordt posted a double-double against Whitefish with 12 rebounds and 14 points, and Potkonjak added 12 in the win. Bigfork shot 56 percent from the field in the game and made 10 of 18 3-pointers, including four from Potkonjak.

The Vikings out-rebounded the Bulldogs 29-17 and forced 17 Whitefish turnovers.

As the Vikings look toward their next game, which is at home against Eureka at 7 p.m., Tudor said they are focusing on executing their offense better.

“While we have had good performances, our team play can use improvement,” he said. “I expect this will happen the more we play together.”

On Saturday the Vikes will travel to Libby. Libby is new to the district and Tudor said they have beaten some tough teams already.    

Hamilton 13 16 11 17 — 57

Bigfork 10 12 17 25 — 64

HAMILTON — Josh Heath 5 3-4 15, Bridger Bouder 3 1-1 8, Bret Huxtable 3 0-0 6, Ky Birch 1 0-0 2, Ty Chivinerd 1 0-0 3, Hunter Omlid 1 1-2 4, Jaylon Taggart 4 3-4 11, Carter Kearns 3 2-5 8. Totals 21 10-16 57.

BIGFORK — Anders Epperly 1 0-0 2, Adam Jordt 2 14-20 18, Joseph Potkonjak 1 2-4 5, Jonathan Landon 10 6-10 27, Levi Spanogle 1 3-4 5, George Gibson 3 1-3 7. Totals —18 26-41 64

Anaconda 5 16 15 23 — 59

Bigfork 19 11 28 15 — 73

ANACONDA — Caleb Stetzner 15, Ricco Ungaretti 7, Trent Mikalatos 3, Sean Gallagher 6, Kaden Stetzner 8, Braxton Hill 20.

BIGFORK — Anders Epperly 4, Adam Jordt 16, Joseph Potkonjak 24, Jonathan Landon 9, Levi Spanogle 9, George Gibson 4, Garrett Beville 3.

Bigfork 29 26 6 6 — 67

Whitefish 5 7 5 11 — 28

BIGFORK — Anders Epperly 6, Adan Jordt 14, Joseph Potkonjak 12, Jonathon Landon 9, George Gibson 8, Logan Taylor 5, Levi Spangle 7, Beau Santistevan 2, Garrett Beville 4.

WHITEFISH — Derek Kastella 7, Luke May 5, Sawyer Silliker 4, Jansen Anderson 7, James Sampson 3, Zander Wold 2.

VALKYRIE BASKETBALL

The Valkyries came out of their first week of basketball 2-1, suffering an overtime loss to Hamilton 46-41 at the tip-off tournament in Missoula over the weekend.

The loss came after a win over Anaconda 52-31 on Friday at the tournament, and a 67-41 victory over Whitefish last Tuesday.

Though the Vals were down 11 points during the fourth quarter they came back to force overtime.

Bigfork outscored the Broncs 13-7 in the fourth to tie the game at 37-all. Hamilton dominated the extra session on the scoreboard, 9-4.

“I feel like the defense keeps us in the game, but we are struggling offensively,” head coach Jami Grende said. While Hamilton never really got any momentum, there also wasn’t a lot of opportunity for the Vals to score, Grende said.

Lana Berg and Miranda Campbell shared scoring honors against Hamilton with 12 points each. Mattie McAnally added 10.

“Even though we got beat, we learned a lot by it,” Grende said. “That’s why we play these preseason games, is to learn.”

Friday at the tournament the Valkyries downed Anaconda, who they will face again, later in the season.

“It took us a while to get started but we actually played pretty well,” Grende said.

The Valkyries led 21-8 after the first period and held a 34-13 edge at intermission. Lana Berg had 17 points and eight rebounds, Campbell finished with 12 points and six blocks and Jaime Berg added 10 points and totaled eight boards for Bigfork, which had 23 steals in the game.

In the Vals first outing of the season in Whitefish, Katie Thomas led three players in double-figures and Bigfork shut out Whitefish in the third quarter.

The Valkyries led 24-5 after one quarter and out-scored the Bulldogs 15-0 in the third quarter to build a 54-15 lead.

“It was great for our first game, we came out on fire,” Grende said.

Thomas made four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. Jaime Berg hit two triples and scored 12 points in the game. Campbell added 13.

The Vals will travel to Eureka on Thursday, and Libby on Saturday.

Hamilton 10 12 8 7 9 — 46

Bigfork 8 9 7 13 4 — 41

HAMILTON — Tristy Searle 2, Baylie Duce 8, Kloie Nye 9, Reilly Rostad 8, Rachel Ringer 6, Caitlin Gillespie 5, Jordan Bruder 8.

BIGFORK — Jaime Berg 4, Mattie McAnally 10, Katie Thomas 3, Lana Berg 12, Miranda Campbell 12.

Anaconda 8 5 5 13 — 31

Bigfork 21 13 11 7 — 52

ANACONDA — A. Sutzinger 6, S. Peterson 2, R. Johnson 2, M. Huber 6, K. Jorgenson 1, S. Fosberg 2, R. Johnson 3.

BIGFORK — Haile Norred 2, Jaime Berg 10, Mattison McAnally 6, Katie Thomas 5, Lana Berg 17, Miranda Campbell 12.

Bigfork 24 15 15 13 — 67

Whitefish 5 10 0 26 — 41

BIGFORK — Haile Norred 2, Jaime Berg 12, Rakiah Grende 7, Emilee Park 4, Mattie McAnally 9, Katie Thomas 14, Lana Berg 6, Miranda Campbell 13.

WHITEFISH — Dani Douglas 5, Coral Schulz 5, Allie Schulz 4, Anissa Brown 7, Mariah Drown 1, Haley Nicholson 7, Makenna Benbrook 4, Cailyn Ross 2, Becca Catina 6.

SPEECH, DEBATE AND DRAMA

Bigfork’s speech, debate and drama team claimed first place in drama in Polson last weekend, and third in Speech.

In drama Kim McDonald was the champion in mime and Bella Goodsen and Tanae Myers took 4th in classical duo.

In speech Riley Hoveland was 4th in memorized public address, Stacey Poulson was 7th in dramatic interpretation and Shannon Frizzell was 8th in expository.

Speech and drama have a break before divisionals in Cutbank on Jan. 13, followed by the Bigfork Invitational on Jan. 16.